El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (commonly called ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (between approximately the International Date Line and 120°W), including off the Pacific coast of South America.
Beyond the ocean water temperatures, el Niño demontrates all its power with atmospheric and climatic events including: unprecedented floods (like the one swamping the atacama desert region in Chile), anchovy catches dwindling in Pacific coast of Peru, no hurricanes in the Central America coasts of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
